WE TAKE CHARGE

AN INITIATIVE OF

TAKE WEEKLY PLEDGES TO LIVE SUSTAINABLY BY REDUCING NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, BOOSTING POSITIVE

ONES AND HELPING YOUR SCHOOL GO GREEN.

WE TAKE CHARGE

Every choice you make today gives you a chance to decrease negative impacts on the planet and take positive impacts to the next level. For a month, take weekly pledges to shake up your daily routine with new ways to go green and live sustainably. Track actions and add up your impacts to show the world that when young leaders take charge, the future gets brighter—and greener.

When you take charge, the future gets brighter.

This week get to where you're going the #wetakecharge way. We want you to bike, walk, skateboard, rollerblade, teleport... Snap a pic of you with your green mode of transport and track your action on the app.

GO GREEN !WE DAY APP CHALLENGE

WE TAKE CHARGE

Here are some ideas for boosting your environmental impact through WE Take Charge:

► Create a mural where each participant can write down their pledge on a piece of paper and add them to a design like a tree or a planet.

► Use the pledge boosters on the WE Take Charge pledge tracking sheet (Student Yearbook, p. 25) to increase the impact of your pledges.

► Approach your school's governing body about adopting new policies for going green.

Students from Oasis Academy Mayfield in Southampton have been harvesting environmental impacts through their “Growing Together” project. It started with selling handmade "Gardens in a Bottle" and has matured into a flourishing community garden, proving that with perseverance, small ideas can grow into big impacts. Find out which vegetables students have planted at WE.org/wetakecharge.

Ways to Take Action

► Action-planning guide (Student Yearbook, p. 20).► Teacher-led Exploring Issues activity (Teacher's Guide, p. 30) and Community Mapping activity

(Student Yearbook, p. 10, and Teacher's Guide, p. 32) for learning more about environmental issues and finding ways for your school to go green.

► Teacher-led lesson activities for going deeper into WE Take Charge (WE.org/weschools/teacher-resources).► WE Take Charge campaign poster for spreading the word (see campaign posters) or download and print at WE.org/wetakecharge.► WE Take Charge pledge tracker for staying on top of pledges (Student Yearbook, p. 25).

CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO MAKE IT YOUR OWN.Plan your own campaign from start to finish with the WE Take Charge action-planning activity on page 20 of the Student Yearbook.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC CHANGE IS IN THE AIR AWARD

Make a mark on our planet! Thanks to Virgin Atlantic, you have the chance to turn your ideas for making your local or global community more sustainable into action. Win up to £1,200 to use towards developing your sustainability initiative and be a momentous change-maker. Find out more and apply at WE.org/sustainabilityaward.

WE TAKE CHARGE

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ISSUES AT WE.ORG/EXPLORINGISSUES.LEARN HOW TO TAKE ACTION AT WE.ORG/WETAKECHARGE.

#WETAKECHARGE

WE PRODUCE1.3 TONNES OF WASTE EVERY YEAR -

THIS IS PROJECTED TOTO2.2

INCREASE

TONNES PER YEAR BY 2025.

WE TAKE CHARGE

Take weekly pledges to live sustainably by reducing negative impacts on the environment, boosting positive ones and helping your school go green.CAMPAIGN SKILLS:

Checklis t Sign up for the campaign at WE.org/wetakecharge.

Who do you need to ask for permission to do this campaign? Permission received!

Se t ting Your Goal► How many students would you like to get involved in pledge challenges?

WE TAKE CHARGE

WE TAKE CHARGE

Inves tigate and LearnWhat does your group currently know about your school’s impact on the environment? What facts and images come to mind when you think about living sustainably?

Tick off at least three ways to learn more about helping your school go green.

Ask your teacher to run the Community Mapping activity (p. 10 and Teacher’s Guide, p. 32), but with a twist. Perform the walk inside your school, looking for signs of issues that have negative impacts (e.g., overuse of electricity, lack of recycling, waste of resources). Afterwards, discuss the signs you spotted and have the note taker write down ideas as they are discussed.

As a group, decide on four signs that you think represent the greatest opportunity for your school to go green.

Sign of issue #1:

Sign of issue #2:

Sign of issue #3:

Sign of issue #4:

REFLECTION TIME: Were you surprised by any of the things you noticed? How would you feel if you knew you could change these things? How can you use that feeling to motivate yourself or others during your campaign?

Invite a local expert to speak at your school.

Research the issue at WE.org/exploringissues.

Ask your teacher to run campaign lesson activities from WE.org/we-schools/teacher-resources.

Choose your own: Choose your own: Choose your own:

WE TAKE CHARGE Mind map different pledges you could take to boost the positive impacts or reduce the negative ones associated with

each sign and related issues. For example, if one sign your group noticed was disposal of water bottles in the bin, you could suggest a recycling campaign or raise awareness about the importance of reusable water bottles.

Possible pledges for issue #1:

Possible pledges for issue #2:

Possible pledges for issue #3:

Possible pledges for issue #4:

Then as a group, vote on which pledge your group will be leading the school in taking. For each pledge, set a measurable goal for your school to achieve. For example, if you’re starting a recycling initiative, you could try to stop a certain number of bottles or cans from entering the bin.

Goal for pledge #1:

Goal for pledge #2:

Goal for pledge #3:

Goal for pledge #4:

Get more students involved. Make sure each group member can explain the details of the campaign before speaking to others about it. Review the pledges you chose and the goals you set, and take turns asking each other questions and answering basic questions about your campaign.

When is this campaign happening? What is your goal?

Why are you doing this campaign? How can others get involved?

REFLECTION TIME: Which pledges are you most excited about? Are there any pledge challenges or parts of the action plan that you are nervous about? How can you prepare to make sure your group can move forward with confidence?

Action Plan

WE TAKE CHARGE Get the rest of your school in on the action. Tick off ways you will challenge others to take on pledges.

You can also invite your school to track their actions and the impacts of those actions. Make WE Take Charge pledge tracking sheets (p. 25) available to all participants.

Give one pledge challenge a week, and once a week, invite participants to a meeting to tally up impacts on a master pledge tracking sheet. Measure progress towards your goal and discuss challenges you’ve run into. Share advice with each other and troubleshoot common difficulties.

Issues we have run into:

Proposed solutions:

Adjustments to our goals (optional):

REFLECTION TIME: What does sustainability mean to you personally? Why is your whole school’s participation important for a campaign focused on sustainability?

Take Action

School newsletters Put up campaign posters (see poster section of kit) or design posters to put up.

Social media

School announcements Choose your own: Choose your own:

WE TAKE CHARGE When you’ve finished your campaign, sit down as a group and count the impacts you‘ve made.

Share your success with WE Take Charge by posting photos to social media using #wetakecharge.

► How many students did you get involved in your pledges?

► Impact for pledge #1:

► Impact for pledge #2:

► Impact for pledge #3:

► Impact for pledge #4:

► Has your teacher contacted your WE Schools Coordinator about filling out an Impact Report? Yes / No

REFLECTION TIME: As a group, discuss the following questions. Make sure each group member gets a chance to speak and that the note taker takes notes on common themes in the answers.

How did your group do with its goals? Did you run into any challenges?

Is there anything you would do differently next time?

What is sustainable living? What do you think living sustainably means for a school?

What do you think are the barriers to people adopting more sustainable habits?

Aside from your pledge-specific goals, what impacts did your group make (e.g., involving your school, spreading awareness, developing new sustainable living habits)?

How can your group share your collective impact with the school (e.g., sustainability report, an assembly, a mural)?

Report and Celebrate

Creative Resource : WETake Charge Pledge TrackerHERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

1. Write down a pledge with a measurable goal, for example, cans recycled, zero-waste lunches packed or minutes cut from your shower routine.

2. Write down your daily progress as you go.

3. Pick optional pledge boosters to enhance your campaign’s daily impact.

PLEDGE BOOSTERS:► Hop on social media and post a fact related to your pledge or its impact.► Take a picture of an action you’re taking and post to social media

with #wetakecharge.► Tell family and friends about your pledge.